WHERE ARE 

OUR NATION'S 
CREDENTIALS? 



WHERE ARE 

OUR NATION'S 
CREDENTIALS? 



BY 

ADELAIDE ESTELLA BEAR, A.B. 

former editor of 
The Philosopher's Magazine 



Camden, New Jersey 
1916 



3* 



Copyrighted 1916 

3Y 
ADELAIDE ESTELLA BEAR 



©CI.A427414 



*VuO / 




^flfLTHOUGH four years have passed since the 
matter of establishing a National Archives 
Building in which to deposit all government 
documents which are not in active use for the 
purpose of administration (those to remain in 
the department to which they were sent) was presented before 
the United States Senate by Mr. Williams in the behalf of the 
Department of Archives and History of the states of Mississippi 
and Alabama, and although Congress has done nothing except 
publish the petition at the expense of the Government, the spirit 
of the movement is still alive. There seems never to have been 
a systematic plan of archives for public documents in the 
United States, which accounts for the ease with which docu- 
ments have been lost, mislaid, destroyed, not deposited in any 
archive at all or deliberately taken away. The present move- 
ment is to check destruction and to preserve for the Nation her 
credentials. Many of the individual states are already provid- 
ing for the safeguarding and the preservation of their public 
documents now on file as well as for the collection of those 
which have been lost. Their activity in this respect has been 
openly demonstrated from time to time by injunctions against 
auction sales of the public documents of their respective states. 

The recent temporary injunction against the sale of New 
Hampshire state papers at public auction, procured by the 
Attorney General of that state, recalls to mind long lists of 
important papers, letters and documents which belong by right 
to either the United States government or to the individual 
state governments, but which, on the contrary, are bought and 
sold freely through public auctions. These papers belong in 
the public archives and are parts of the authentic records of 
the history of our country — state and nation. The minute 
records of no other country, perhaps, are guarded so loosely 
as are those of the United States. This carelessness is not just 
recently acquired, but is of long standing, as de Tocqueville 
attested when he wrote on his return to France from his visit 
here: "The authority which public men possess in America is 
so brief, and they are so soon commingled with the ever-chang- 
ing population of the country, that the acts of a community 
frequently leave fewer traces than the occurrences of a private 
family. The public administration is, so to speak, oral and 
traditionary. But little is committed to writing, and that little 
is wafted away forever, like the leaves of the Sibyl, by the 
smallest breeze. 

"The only historical remains in the United States are the 
newspapers, but if a number be wanting, the chain of time is 
broken, and the present is severed from the past, I am con- 
vinced that in fifty years it will be more difficult to collect 



4 WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS ? 

authentic documents concerning the social conditions of the 
Americans at the present day than it is to find remains of the 
administration of France during the Middle Ages; and if the 
United States were ever invaded by barbarians, it would be 
necessary to have recourse to the history of other nations in 
order to learn anything of the people which now inhabits 
them. 

'The instability of the administration has penetrated into 
the habits of the people: it even appears to suit the general 
taste, and no one cares for what occurred before his time. No 
methodical system is pursued; no archives are formed; and no 
documents are brought together when it would be very easy to 
do so. Where they exist, little^ store is set upon them ; and I 
have among my papers several original public documents which 
were given to me in answer 16 some of my inquiries. In 
America society seems to live from hand to mouth, like an 
army in the field." 

We are awakening to find that the prophecy which the 
young Frenchman made nearly a hundred years ago has come 
true. If we wished to compile a history of our government 
from original documents, we should have as great a job on our 
hands as if we set out to gather up a handful of mustard seeds 
we had just blown into the wind. The majority of our state 
papers seem to have passed into private collections. The 
"Minutes of the Continental Congress" have been spread broad- 
cast by the hundreds till they attract neither great attention nor 
great price. Indeed, so accustomed have we Americans become 
to the sale of our "State documents" that we made little com- 
ment when the "original and engrossed copy of the Thirteenth 
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States" was 
advertised and offered for sale at public auction, a document 
second only in importance to the Constitution itself. Beneath 
a full size facsimile of the Amendment the auctioneer has 
printed the following explanation : "To understand the value 
of this precious document we must take into consideration 
that this is the seal attached to the document which is regis- 
tered in Heaven, to promulgate which, so many thousands of 
our beloved brothers gave up their lives on the field of battle. 

That the great Lincoln foresaw the importance of this act, is 
fully attested from the fact that this original and engrossed 
copy of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States was prepared for him, at his request, and signed 
by all members of the Senate and Congress who voted for it. 
The signatures were obtained by a friend of the President, but 
before the parchment could be delivered Lincoln had been 
assassinated. The parchment remained in the possession of 
his friend, and at his death passed into the hands of the 



WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS? 5 

executors of his estate, the late Judge Hayden, from whom the 
late Colonel Donaldson obtained it. 

"Next to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, it is the most important document 
relating to our government and registers one of the most 
important and bravest acts of the civilized world. It is hoped 
that it will find a fitting resting place. 

"During the latter part of the life of Colonel Donaldson, a 
scheme was on foot, and being managed by the late Doctor 
Pepper, to secure the document for the University of Penn- 
sylvania, several gentlemen had contributed $500.00 each 
towards the purchase, but the untimely death of Colonel 
Donaldson and Doctor Pepper put an end to all negotiations." 
(For this document a bid of $1700.00 was withdrawn — 
refused.) . 

There should be but one resting place for public docu- i 
ments — and that place — public archives. 

What are our public documents when they can be bought 
and sold as quaint and curious relics, when they are considered 
to have fulfilled their duty as soon as the last signature has 
been placed upon them and that they are therefore useless 
except as curiosities in museums public or private, more often 
the latter? The Declaration of Independence and the Constitu- 
tion of the United States together with all its amendments, 
belong to the people of the United States, and are supposed 
to be properly cared for at the National Capitol, the chief seat 
of government. They were never intended to be trafficked from 
one private individual to another. Public documents are always 
needful for the maintenance of public liberty and justice — 
copies of these documents lack strength. 

Boundary lines are most important, and it may happen that 
on some occasion the letter written by John Habersham, 
Savannah, March 22, 1787, signed also by George Lachlan 
Mcintosh and John Houston and sent to Governor George 
Matthews in reference to settling the boundary lines between 
the states of South Carolina and Georgia, may be as urgently 
needed as in 1842, one hundred and sixty years afterwards, 
it was found necessary to produce the original lease from 
James, Duke of York, of the "Town of Newcastle and a circle 
of twelve miles around to William Penn," dated Aug. 2 1 , in 
the four and thirtieth year of the reign of Charles the Second 
(1682), signed by James, Duke of York, afterwards King of 
England, in order to prove conclusively the title of the State 
of Delaware to Pea Patch Island, the island on which Fort 
Delaware has been built. It was a celebrated case and the 
document a highly important one. 

In the same sale in which the lease of "the Town of New- 
castle and a circle of twelve miles around" was sold, there was 



6 WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS? 

sold also the original "Charter of Liberties granted by William 
Penn to the Province of Pennsylvania, dated 25 April, 1682." 
This is only one charter among the many which have passed 
and are passing through the hands of auctioneers. 

A short time previous, the original survey of "Lands 
patented in the name of George Washington, on the Ohio 
River" was sold by the same auctioneer. Another relic of the 
great Washington, one which by every right belongs to the 
most sacred archives of our country, is — "the original manu- 
script military order book (all in his own autograph) from 
June 22 to August 8, 1779." The auctioneer says of it: 
"This is one of the most interesting and highly important 
historical documents I have ever had pass through my hands. 
The book is all in the handwriting of General Washington, 
and contains the orders issued by him as Commander-in-Chief 
of the Continental forces during the most trying period of the 
Revolutionary War, June 22-August 8, 1779. With the excep- 
tion of a few extracts the book has never been published, and 
it is well known by collectors as the celebrated 'Order Book/ 
which contains his stringent order against 'swearing in camp.* 
The historical data to be found within its pages will help fill 
many a gap in the history of that eventful period, and I think 
I am safe in saying that this will, in all probability, be the last 
opportunity that anybody will have of possessing a relic of 
the greatest of all men as interesting and as important as this." 
(Sold for $275.00.) One notable example of how our price- 
less documents have been disposed of even abroad, is evidenced 
by the fact that the original plan of the Valley Forge Encamp- 
ment made by Dupor-Tail, General Washington's Chief Staff 
Engineer, in 1 778, was found by Ex-Governor Pennypacker in 
a museum in Antwerp. It was purchased by the University of 
Cornell and now ii in the library of that institution instead 
of in the National Archives Department in Washington. This 
is, perhaps, the only plan of the encampment in existence. 
Another letter of great interest and importance is a letter to 
the Governor of New York from Henry Fox, First Lord Holland, 
Secretary of War and Secretary of State, Whitehall, March 13, 
1 756, "In relation to the plans for conducting the War in 
America. The mode of raising troops in the Colonies. The 
prohibition of any trade or commerce with the French, etc." 
These records, which deal with the great epoch-making 
events in the development of our country, especially those 
recording what took place in the severing of ties to the mother- 
country and how the present method of government was estab- 
lished, should be religiously protected by the American people 
as a whole for the generations succeeding them, should not be 
bought and laid away in some vault as a money-making invest- 
ment for the son of some financier. 



WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS? 7 

Besides General Washington's "Order Book," there is Gen- 
eral Moultries' "Oderly Book," also kept during the Revolution- 
ary War, June 20, 1 775, to December 6, 1 776, telling of the 
defense of Fort Sullivan (now Moultrie), in Charleston Har- 
bor, against the British fleet. In the same sale were two 
"Orderly Books," kept during the War of 1812 — that of Gen- 
eral Winchester, Commander of the Northwestern Army — and 
that of the Kentucky Volunteers under Isaac Shelby, Governor 
of Kentucky. These are records of the maneuvers of the armies, 
plans of battles, etc., historical records which, once lost, can 
never be replaced. Together with these was sold the "Livre de 
Bord de Pierre Joseph Jennet." The original log book of the 
French Frigates "Lyon" and "Zele" during the American Revo- 
lution, "containing many most interesting and hitherto unpub- 
lished details of the French Fleet, particularly in the Chesa- 
peake Bay and the West Indies. About 275 pages of manu- 
script. Circa, 1777-1780. 

"This is one of the most important Revolutionary manu- 
scripts, being the log book kept by an officer of the French 
Fleet (Pierre Joseph Jennet) during the operations in the 
Chesapeake and St. Kitts and the other West Indian Islands. 
It gives a complete list of all the important battleships of both 
the French and English Fleets, their armament, names of 
officers, size, etc., and illustrates the size in a series of ten 
water-color drawings (mostly folding) of the vessels both in 
action and otherwise. It is also interspersed with valuable 
data relating to the siege of York, the surrender of Corn- 
wallis and other important events in the American Revolution, 
including many interesting details hitherto unknown. It will 
be well to mention that the Frigate *Zele' was one of the most 
celebrated French ships in the American Revolution, taking 
part in nearly all the naval engagements of that period, and 
especially in the Chesapeake Bay." 

Then again it would seem right that the following letter 
from General Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Ameri- 
can Army during the Revolution, to Lord Cornwallis, dated 
"Headquarters Camp at Middle Brook, June 2, 1 777, be filed 
with the other data of the same period. 
"My Lord, 

It is with infinite regret that I am again compelled to 
remonstrate against that spirit of wanton cruelty that has 
in several instances influenced the conduct of your soldiery. 
A recent exercise of it towards an unhappy officer of ours, 
Lieutenant Martin, convinces me, that my former representa- 
tions on that subject, have been unvailing. That Gentleman, 
by the fortunes of war, on Saturday last, was thrown into 
the hands of a party of your horse and unnecessarily mur- 
dered with the most aggravated circumstances of barbarity. 
I wish not to wound your lordship's feelings by commenting 
on this event, but I feel it my duty to send his mangled body 



8 WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS? 

to your lines as an undeniable testimony of the fact should 
it be doubted, and as the best appeal to your Humanity for 
the justice of our complaint. 

I have the honor to be with due respect 

Tour Lordship's most obedient servant 

George Washington." 

Authentic records of our early struggle for existence are 
scarce enough. They should have no price levied upon them 
by speculators in the field of manuscripts and rare editions. 

All letters on official business ought to belong to the office 
and not to the man, and should be filed in public archives in 
the department to which they belong, but it would seem that 
a tacit understanding of a reverse policy is responsible for the 
sale of such letters as : "An official letter to the President of the 
United States from the President of Chili, Manuel Montt, dated 
Santiago, Nov. 14, 1853/' 

Two famous petitions from the two most famous prisons 
of the Civil War, sent to the President of the Union, are not 
filed away in the War Department as they ought to have been, 
and as Mr. Taft, when asked how they had been disposed 
of, suggested they probably were ; both these petitions from the 
prisoners of the Andersonville Prison and the prisoners of the 
Charlestown Prison, were sold at public auction a few years 
ago. Now they are held as valuable papers by private indi- 
viduals, but not as sacred documents of the American people 
by the American people for the American people. 

One lot of six pieces by Robert Morris, the great financier 
of the Revolution, in regard to the finances of the Revolution 
(dated Jan. 8, March 9, May 13, Oct. 21 , 1782; May 12, Sept. 
1 6, 1 783) , invaluable as public records, were purchased by a 
collector for $.25 (twenty-five cents). Another letter, which 
would undoubtedly enlighten us in respect to the financial con- 
ditions of the young country, was the letter to John Steele, 
Comptroller of the United States, from President Thomas 
Jefferson, on financial matters. 

A resolution of Congress August 3, 1780, in reference to the 
removal of the loan offer from the states of South Carolina 
and Georgia during the invasion by the British: again, another 
abstract dated October 10, 1780, in relation to bonds that may 
be ceded to the United States by the different states: then 
again, another abstract dated February 20, 1 783, a resolution 
relative to the foods imported for the use of German and 
British prisoners of war — all three documents signed by ^Charles 
Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress: besides, there 
is an estimate of monies loaned to the United States at certain 
periods, and reduced to specie value by the table of deprecation 
dated Auditor General's Office, February 16, 1 781 : and from 
Delaware, an abstract from the minutes of the Assembly of 



WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS? 9 

Delaware empowering the Commander-in-Chief to draw for 
1 0,000 pounds for debts due the militia, and a resolution of the 
same Assembly, dated September 2, 1 775, to raise 3,000 pounds 
to purchase arms and ammunition for the defense of the 
colony, both signed by James Booth, Clerk of the Assembly of 
Delaware; every one of these papers would be priceless in 
piecing together our financial records, yet perhaps the highest 
price paid for any one was the $1.00 (one dollar) paid for the 
resolution of the Assembly of Delaware dated September 2, 
1775. 

The loss of muster rolls and resignations shows an indiffer- 
ence in the government towards its patriots. A good example 
of the resignations from the army and the navy is that of 
General Robert E. Lee at the outbreak of the Civil War, that 
letter in which he surrendered his commission in the army of 
the United States; dated "Arlington, Washington city, P. 0. 20 
April, 1861 — to Lieutenant General Winfield Scott, Command- 
ing the Army. 

"Gen'I 

Since my interview with you on the 18th inst. I have 
felt that I ought not longer to retain my commission in the 
Army. I therefore tender my resignation, which I request 
you will recommend for acceptance. 

It would have been tendered at once but for the 
struggle it cost me to separate myself from a Service to which 
I have devoted all the best years of my life, all the Ability 
I possessed. 

During the whole of that time, more than thirty years, 
I have experienced nothing but kindness from my superiors, 
the most cordial friendship from my Companions. To no 
one general have I been so much indebted as to yourself 
for uniform kindness and consideration, and it has always 
been my ardent desire to merit your approbation. 

I shall carry with me to the grave the most grateful 
recollections of your kind consideration and your name and 
fame will always be near and dear to me. Save in the 
defense of my Native State, I never desire again to draw my 
Sword. 

Be pleased to accept my most earnest wishes for the 
continuance of your happiness and believe me most truly 
yours 

R. E. Lee." 

Amongst other letters of resignation which it seems right 
should be in public archives to fill out the annals of our country 
is the letter of John M. Schofield, Secretary of War, dated 
Washington, March 11,1 869. But this, too, was sold at public 
auction. 

Arthur St. Claire, President of the Continental Congress, 
sent a letter to the Governor of New Jersey, dated April 13, 
1 781, respecting the treaty of peace between the United States 
and Great Britain and the duty of every state in enforcing the 
treaty: 



l/ 



10 WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS? 

From the office of Finance, January 8, 1 782, Robert Morris 
wrote to the President of Pennsylvania, informing him of the 
incorporation by Congress of the Bank of North America, and 
speaking of the great benefits the bank will confer: 

John Hancock wrote to Thomas Pickering a communica- 
tion to the state of South Carolina, dated Boston, February 1 6, 
1 788, giving notice of the ratification of the Constitution of 
the United States by Massachusetts, and asking concurrence 
in several amendments: 

Winfield Scott, Commander-in-Chief of the United States 
Army, while at Headquarters in Augusta, January 31, 1836, 
wrote to Governor William Schley, of Georgia, calling on him 
for troops to act against the Seminole Indians in Florida: 

An official report of the Battle of Gainsville, Va., August 
28, 1862, and of Bull Run, August 29-30, 1862, sent from 
Headquarters by Abner Doubleday: 

A letter signed by twelve members of the Confederate Con- 
gress sent from North Carolina, dated January 25, 1864, to 
Governor Z. E. Vance, a document of great historical impor- 
tance because in reference to entering into negotiations for 
terminating the war: 

8 A. M., May 11, 1864, General Grant wrote from 
Headquarters in Virginia to Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of 
War: 

The members of the General Assembly of Tennessee sent a 
petition to President Andrew Johnson, praying that he cause 
the Sixth Regiment Tenn. Cavalry to be mounted and sent into 
West Tennessee to assist the people in establishing Law and 
Order and Bring to Justice the Marauding Bands and Guerrilas, 
dated Nashville, May 6, 1865, signed by thirty-one members 
of the Legislature, this was endorsed on the back "Executive 
office, May 15, 1865, respectfully referred to Lieutenant General 
Grant who will please grant the request — Andrew Johnson." 
(Sold for $1.50.) All of these and hundreds more of com- 
munications from one official to another, from one state depart- 
ment to another, are found listed in auctioneers' catalogues, 
together with notifications of laws and oaths of office as that of 
Daniel D. Tompkins, "Signed three times, July 1, 1831. The 
three separate oaths of office taken by him on his inauguration 
as Governor of New York.*' 

And the oaths of office signed twice by George Clinton, 
upon his inauguration as Governor of New York, July 1, 1801. 

Then pages from the minutes of the various departments 
as: *'An original page from the manuscript minutes of the 
Legislature of New Jersey, containing the resolution concerning 
sending commissioners to the New Haven convention to 
regulate labour, manufactures, etc., signed by John Hart as 



WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS? 11 

speaker of the House," have for years been sold at public 
auctions, not to mention the letters and documents which pass 
from one collector to another in consideration of a good, round 
profit minus the auctioneer's fee. 

There was sold also "extracts from the resolutions of the 
Continental Congress relating to the supplies for the army and 
mentioning Washington, dated September 15, 1780," together 
with the memoranda also signed by Charles Thomson, February 
21, 1784, of the states which were represented in the Federal 
Congress from February 7 to 21, 1784, showing how difficult 
it was to get a full attendance. "From February 7 to 21, the 
highest number of states represented was seven and the lowest 
five, and the states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Mary- 
land, North Carolina and Georgia were not represented at all." 

Not a whit less interesting and valuable is the report of 
General Jonathan Williams, United States Commercial Agent at 
France, to the Commissioner of the United States, dated Nantes, 
July 30, 1 775, in reference to prizes at French ports. 

The original of the first Thanksgiving Proclamation by a 
President of the United States, issued and signed by George 
Washington on the third day of October, 1 789, and 

The original draft of the celebrated Resolutions in the 
Virginia House of Burgesses, May, 1765, against the Stamp 
Act, by Patrick Henry, ought to be in public archives. 

A few of the letters which should be in the departments to 
which they were sent, but which were sold at public auction for 
a mere song, are — 

May 4, 1 795, to the chief coiner of the Mint, from David 
Rittenhouse, first Director of the United States Mint: 

Nicholas Biddle, President of the Bank of the United States, 
to John H. Eaton, Secretary of War, respecting matters of that 
institution: 

President John Tyler, June 22, 1 842, to Mr. Spencer, Secre- 
tary of War, in relation to Dorr's Rebellion: 

General R. E. Lee, August 12, 1861, to General S. Cooper, 
in reference to exchanging of prisoners: 

Major General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, 1841, to Hon. 
John C. Spencer, urging that proper and effective increase be 
taken to provide for the national defense: 

John Quincy Adams, President, August 1 4, 1 794, to the 
Secretary of State in regard to his mission to The Hague. 

A lot of papers relating to the early history of Pennsyl- 
vania — the return of prisoners, etc., sold for $.87 (eighty-seven 
cents). 

A lot of documents relating to the Mexican War brought 
$.15 (fifteen cents). 

Another lot relating to the Mexican War and signed prin- 



12 WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS? 

cipally by Major U. S. Bliss, consisting of military orders, etc., 
attracted only $.20 (twenty cents). 

A collection of documents and letters relating to Pennsyl- 
vania in the War of 1812, and signed by Governor Snyder, 
sold for a mere song. 

Old treaties with the Indians and others are worthless to 
the nation, so it seems, when they are sold in lump lots as 
"Lot 4 — Official letters, documents, etc., about 600." — "Lot — 
Deeds, Bonds, Commissions, Treaties, etc. — " 

One treaty which must have been unusually valuable, 
brought $4.00 (four dollars) — "Timothy Pickering, Quarter- 
master General of the Revolutionary War and Secretary of 
State, Philadelphia, Dec. 22, 1 795, Treaty with the Wyandottes, 
Delawares, Shawanoes, Ottawas and other Indians." 

De Tocqueville was right when he wrote that the only true 
historical records that the United States will possess are the 
newspapers, and if a number be missing then a link in the 
chain is gone. From the very beginning we seem to have given 
our original documents to whomsoever asked for them, and 
that the recipients were not restricted to Americans is shown 
by the fact that such documents are listed in the catalogues of 
auction sales in foreign countries. In the light of the frequency 
with which our public documents are met in auctions in this 
and other countries, it is strange how few of the public docu- 
ments of other countries are sold. At a meeting of "Archivists" 
in New York a few years ago, we were told that in France all 
officials must leave all papers relating to their office with the 
State at the expiration of their term. That official papers 
found amongst the effects of a deceased, or papers and docu- 
ments found anywhere and which could be proved to have 
belonged to public archives or to be State documents could be 
seized upon by the State. 

It isn't France alone that has a system of Public Archives, 
and maintains a State ownership for State papers, but nearly 
every country in Europe has a Repository for Public Docu- 
ments, where they are classified and cared for till needed. The 
British Museum and the Heralds Office in London contain 
records for a thousand years which are so accurately arranged 
as to be available easily for either historical purposes or as 
evidence in court. Compare with this the "hundred inade- 
quate and unsuitable repositories in the City of Washington" 
where our public documents are "packed in boxes" and are 
available for neither historical or administrative purposes. It 
has been said that the Government pays $50,000 annually for 
the use of these buildings which are neither fireproof nor suit- 
able. The dampness, the dust, moths and mildew cause dis- 
integration to set in among the papers packed in the cellars 



WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS? 13 

and garrets and thus many valuable papers are lost to us for- 
ever when a little care and sunlight and fresh air would pre- 
serve them. 

Strange to say, it seems never to have occurred to the 
United States government that the letters and State papers of 
the Confederate States were of any importance whatever to 
the Federal Government, that they possessed any value as 
historical records in the development of the Nation. Their value 
was little. To historical societies and collectors they meant 
curious relics and not priceless documents which were of vital 
importance in the maintenance of the Federal Government. 
Recently the United States Government seems to be awakening 
to a realization of the value of these documents and now it is 
said that it intends to buy up the letters and papers of General 
P. G. T. Beauregard which are to be sold soon at public auction. 

On the title page of his catalogue, a reproduction of which 
is given here, the auctioneer shows the importance he 
attributes to these Confederate papers. 

The Beauregard Papers 

[General P. Q. T. Beauregard of the Confederate States Army) 

Being the Letters of the various Confederate 

Generals to him, and his Autograph and 

official copies of his own letters in answer 

THE WHOLE FORMING 

A South-side History of the War 

From the First Preparations against Fort Snmter to the Surrender 
of tienl. Jos. E. Johnston 

Embracing Important Letters from the Generals who com- 
manded in Virginia, The Carolinas, Alabama, Georgia, 
Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Florida, 
all of them containing more or less information about 
Battles, Military Movements, and affairs relating to the 
organization of the Confederate States Army 

The most historically important collection ever offered 
for sale on the subject 

TO BS SOLD 

Monday Afternoon and Evening:, Oct. 25, 1915, 

AT 2.80 AND 8.00 O'CLOCK P. M. 
Order of Salr : 
First Sitting, - - Lots 1 to 500 

Second •■ - -" 50110 end 



14 WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS? 

These papers consist of official reports of battles and move- 
ments of the armies, of plans of battles as well as letters and 
they are true historical records. The introductory remarks of 
the auctioneer in his catalogue evidences the great importance 
he lays upon the value of keeping these papers together invio- 
late. "It is probable that many of the letters herein enumerated 
will be lost or destroyed, as in a short time they will be scat- 
tered through the medium of an auction to the four quarters of 
the earth, consequently I have copied their contents for the use 
of history, and therefore the catalogue should be preserved 
for such use, and those interested in the history of the Civil 
War should read it thoroughly. 

"Part two of this correspondence, of which I am preparing 
a catalogue, will embrace the letters to General Beauregard, of 
Southern Generals immediately after the war, and Northern 
Generals during the war. The letters from the various Gover- 
nors of the Southern States, the official Correspondence from 
the various officers of the Confederate Government, nearly five 
thousand military telegrams, many important reports of battles, 
including those of Bull Run, Manassas (the second Bull Run) 
and Shiloh which is really the only report on that battle from 
either side, in existence, several hundred war maps and plans 
of battles, etc., etc. 

But then the United States has not taken care of the official 
reports of the battles or the plans of the battles or the letters 
to and from the commanders of the armies of any war, if the 
descriptions of these documents given in the auctioneers* cata- 
logues speak true, and it seems not unlikely that they do when 
the prices paid for them are considered. There are official 
reports of battles and plans of battles of every war in which 
the United States has indulged from the Revolutionary (and 
before) to the Spanish-American which have been purchased 
by some collector and hidden in an obscure corner where they 
will be a benefit to nobody. 

It is unwise for a nation to give away her State papers 
which are her credentials, her munitions. The law requires 
every man to show upon demand his certificates of birth, vac- 
cination, school, marriage, divorce, etc., hence he guards them 
carefully. The credentials of the United States are her State 
papers and they are being sold and resold without restriction 
among private individuals to whom they represent no more 
than the money invested. There are far too many papers of 
which, pressed by necessity, the United States could show only 
copies. In the light of all these facts, it seems a duty incum- 
bent upon the present government to make and enforce laws 
for the filing of all official papers, letters and documents in the 
archives of the departments to which they belong, and to 
require that they remain on the files ready to be produced at a 



WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS ? 15 

moment's notice, so long as they are in active use for the pur- 
poses of administration, thereafter to be placed in a Public 
Archives Building where they should be classified and cared for 
properly. 

It has been said that some of the prominent auctioneers 
have standing orders with some of the government clerks to 
procure for them for a nominal fee, letters, &c, bearing cer- 
tain autographs. IF this be true, then it is high time for the 
government to check this ruthless rifling of its files of public 
documents, in spite of the assertion that "such papers have 
done their duty and are not worth anything except to a col- 
lector. That they only clutter up.'* Such a law may hamper 
the auctioneers' business slightly, but it will preserve for her 
the Nation's credentials, many of the earliest of which are rest- 
ing in various parts of the globe. Only a hundred and forty 
years have passed since the signing of the Declaration of 
Independence and yet many of the important documents of our 
early history have been lost, destroyed or fallen into the hands 
of private individuals throughout the world. These precious 
relics of our infant nation will enhance in value and interest as 
time runs on. Individual states are recognizing this fact and 
are collecting and preserving all documents of public character. 
The state of New Jersey is now and has been for some time 
past, engaged in compiling and publishing all the data filed in 
the various offices as well as compilations and extracts from 
newspapers and advertisements of changes in the schedules of 
steam-boats and stage-coaches between New York, Philadel- 
phia and the South, and advertisements of lotteries for building 
churches and colleges and rewards for run-away slaves — all of 
which are invaluable. They are particularly interesting as New 
Jersey is one of the thirteen original states or rather colonies and 
the matters mentioned are res domesticae — household history 
of that period. This activity is not restricted to New Jersey 
alone, but is carried on in many other states. 

The interest shown by the separate states in forming 
archives for their state documents gives confidence that the 
movement for protecting our National Documents in a National 
Archives Building in Washington will succeed, gives hope that 
the petty jealousy amongst the various departments and the 
added jealousy between the candidates for the honor of accom- 
plishing such a Herculean task will vanish and all will work 
together for the ultimate good of the Nation. As the process 
of construction is slower and less visible than that of destruc- 
tion, the establishing of such an institution is slower than the 
demolishing would be. 

That AMERICANS and historians are working together for 
that end is shown not only by the above mentioned petition 
before Congress and the injunctions against auction sales of 



16 WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS? 

state papers, but also by papers read before the American His- 
torical Society and by articles which have appeared from time 
to time in the press. It seems incredible that these priceless 
and sacred relics which give the history of the epochal period 
of our country's formation and of its great internal struggles 
should be huckstered about as if they were the original manu- 
script copies of poems and novels instead of invaluable 
evidences of a great nation's history. 

There remains but one step for the present government to 
take to preserve her credentials — and that is the IMMEDIATE 
passage of a bill through Congress to establish an Archives 
Department for housing such documents after they have ful- 
filled their immediate purposes and until they are called upon 
as historical data or evidence in time of trouble. Every Sena- 
tor and Representative in the United States Congress, the Presi- 
dent and his Cabinet, and the Governor of each individual state 
should become interested in the immediate passage of such a 
bill through Congress. To the Colonial Dames, the Sons and 
the Daughters of the Revolution, the Grand Army of the 
Republic and kindred organizations the passage of the bill 
should strongly appeal and they should either by securing a 
resolution of the individual state Legislatures recommending 
their representatives to vote for such a bill or urge their repre- 
sentatives personally to have it passed. 

The immediate passage of such a Bill for the establishing 
of a National Archives Building for all State papers now on 
file, and for collecting and depositing therein those which are 
"scattered to the four quarters of the earth" would not only 
be a most patriotic act of the present Congress — but would 
also fulfill a long neglected duty — that of preserving for all 
generations of Americans their inheritance from their American 
forefathers — their historic State papers. 



